NEW YORK, Feb 23 (APP):New satellite images of Myanmar’s Rakhine state show that the South-east Asian country’s government had been bulldozing Rohingya Muslim villages that were burned down during the “ethnic cleansing campaign” against the minority community, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Friday.
HRW said at least 55 villages had been razed to the ground since late 2017, after nearly 700,000 Rohingya fled to neighbouring Bangladesh to escape military and civilian reprisals in the state.
“The authorities want to cover up evidence of the atrocities and take away the land that belongs to the Rohingya. They want to make it difficult to find graves, weapons used or any other evidence that would connect the crime scene to the criminals,” Brad Adams, HRW’s Asia director, told said
“It also reflects the ethnic cleansing mentality of the Burmese authority,” he said.
Adams said the “random” satellite images only reflected a partial picture and fears the situation could be far worse.
The Rohingya, a vast majority of whom are Muslims, have been denied citizenship rights. They are viewed by the local authorities as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, although many have been living in the region for decades, if not centuries. Myanmar’s Buddhist majority is accused of subjecting them to discrimination and violence.
The Burmese government has refused to grant visas to the UN Fact-Finding Mission, which was created by the Human Rights Council in March 2106, preventing it from collecting evidence in affected areas of northern Rakhine State. Furthermore, it has effectively blocked all independent media and human rights groups from gaining meaningful access to northern Rakhine State.
“The government’s clearing of dozens of villages only heightens concerns about Rohingya families being able to return home,” Adams said. “Deliberately demolishing villages to destroy evidence of grave crimes is obstruction of justice. Donor governments should ensure they don’t provide any direct or indirect support that would hamper justice or assist those responsible for ethnic cleansing in their efforts to pretend the Rohingya do not have the right to return to their villages in northern Rakhine State.”
Myanmar and Bangladesh have agreed to repatriate the Rohingya refugees within two years but HRW says “no refugees have returned to Burma, and Rohinyga continue to flee from Rakhine State.”
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told the Security Council on February 13 that “conditions are not yet conducive to the voluntary repatriation of Rohingya refugees” as the causes of their flight had not been addressed.
“Rohingya are not going to return for a long time because they do not trust the Burmese (Myanmar) authorities,” said HRW’s Adams. “If I were a Rohingya, I would not dare return.”

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 23 (APP):Senior United Nations officials on Friday called for greater support for Syrian refugees as well as the communities hosting them amid escalating violence in the war-torn country.
“We are deeply shaken and distraught by the brutality and utter disregard for civilian lives we are witnessing in Eastern Ghouta and other parts of Syria today,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, UN Development Programme Administrator Achim Steiner and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock said in a joint statement.
“We are urging an immediate ceasefire, protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure and unfettered humanitarian access to Eastern Ghouta, swift evacuation of sick and injured people and safe passage for civilians wishing to leave,” they said.
“Now more than ever, it is critical to sustain and reinforce international support to the neighbouring countries and communities hosting some 5.5 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt. They continue to provide a profound service to humanity at a time when inside Syria, inhumanity seems to be prevailing,” they added.
According to the UN, nearly seven years of relentless violence in Syria has displaced half of Syria’s population, including 6.1 million internally displaced, and 5.5 million Syrians living as refugees in the region.
Despite the generosity of the neighbouring countries, most Syrian refugee families “and many in their host communities” fall below the poverty line and struggle to meet basic needs, the release said.
In December last year, UN agencies and some 270 non-governmental organizations released the 2018 Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan seeking $4.4 billion to support Syrian refugees and host communities in neighbouring countries.
The Plan aims to provide protection for refugee populations, education, health, food security, livelihoods, and water and sanitation services to vulnerable groups.
Meanwhile, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Friday launched an appeal for $194 million to help displaced Syrians living in and outside their war-torn country as well as the communities hosting them.
Seven years into the armed conflict in Syria, the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate. Over 13 million people are still in need of humanitarian assistance inside the country, with nearly 3 million people living in hard-to-reach or besieged areas.
With its 2018 appeal, the UN migration agency seeks to assist 1 million people with non-food items and shelter support
800,000 people with access to safe water and services 500,000 people with health services 500,000 people with community-led protection services 200,000 people with livelihood opportunities 135,000 displaced people to receive adequate services in camps
35,000 children to attend school.
“These interventions are vital to ensuring that Syrians get the life-saving assistance and livelihood support that many desperately need,” said IOM Director General William Lacy Swing, from the Organization’s headquarters in Geneva.
Since the crisis began, IOM said economic growth within host countries has been severely affected. With high unemployment rates, especially among young people, and limited resource availability, it is challenging for governments and municipalities to provide basic services.
IOM said it tracked 850,000 internally displaced persons returning to their areas of origin during 2017. During the same period, however, 2.9 million people continued to flee their homes, illustrating the continuing adverse effect of violence and conflict on the Syrian population.
Access to primary health care has been drastically reduced inside Syria, while agricultural production has been cut in half compared to 2011 levels.
In 2017, IOM said it organized the transportation of over 37,000 Syrian refugees from Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt to 23 countries including Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Sweden, Norway, the United States and the Netherlands, among others.

LONDON, Feb 23 (APP):Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen has announced that he would retire from professional cricket after the conclusion of the Pakistan Super League (PSL).
The legendary batsman made the announcement via his Instagram account, saying the T20 tournament, which began on Thursday and finishes on March 25 would be his last day as a player, Daily Mail reported here Thursday.
According to the paper, the Englishman will play Quetta Gladiators in the month-long tournament
The 37-year-old is the fifth-highest run-scorer in England Test history.
‘Countless goodbyes to my wife Jessica and kids as a cricket player and this one this evening is the last one I’ll ever have to do,’ the 37-year-old wrote alongside a picture of himself hugging his son Dylan before setting off to the United Arab Emirates, Daily Mail said.